What’s the deal about applying for visas for various countries?…

Fisherman casting toward the huge surf.
Long ago, we applied for second passports, which basically consists of a US two year second passport with different passport numbers from our main passports. Most US travelers aren’t aware that a US citizen can apply for a second passport.

Why did we need a second passport? Two years ago, it was necessary to send in one’s passport to a consulate in order to get visas from some countries. We didn’t want to be stranded in a country without a passport in our possession while a visa was being processed through snail mail. 

Tourists stopping to read a sign on the Kauai Path. Notice the cross on the shore, most likely as a memorial to a swimmer’s death in the sea in this area.

Over these past few years, most countries have since begun issuing electronically produced visas for travelers to their country, making it unnecessary for us to send it in to acquire a new visa.

Over these past two years we’ve used these second passports for all of our entries and exits to about 40 countries, resulting in our main passports, which don’t expire until 2021, having no stamps posted as yet.

In December, the second passports expired. As a result of the use of electronic filing for visas, we decided not to renew it. When we soon leave the US, for the first time we’ll use our 10 year passports.

Tiny green balls growing along the beach appear to be some type of weed.
How have we been able to get visas in all of our travels to date? We’ve been able to acquire 90-day visas when we arrive at immigration at any airport, train station or port. The ease of this was surprising to us. 

This easy process doesn’t apply to every country’s immigration process. For some odd reason, US passport holders seem to be presented with an easier process to enter and exit most countries.

If you have a passport from any other country, please check with your travel agent, passport office, immigration or consulate for the country you’d like to enter to determine the process applicable to your country’s passport in regard to obtaining visas. This can vary from country to country.

The Kauai Path is an easy to walk path along Donkey Beach and other beaches.

Thus far, for us, its been a breeze. When traveling to multiple countries via a cruise ship, the immigration staff aboard the ship collects all of our passports. When we arrive at a particular port of call, an immigration officer boards the ship and processes all of the passenger’s and ship staff’s passports for entry and exit.  

Prior to reaching a country’s port, our passports are returned to us, in most cases which we bring with us on our tour whether arranged by the ship or a self guided tour. 

There’s never a shortage of roosters wandering about.

When arriving in a country, we wait in what is usually a long line at immigration processing, tell the agent how long we’d like to stay and as long as the stay doesn’t exceed their set duration of 60 or 90 days, we receive a dated stamp providing us with a visa which is stamped in our passports.

Australia, where we’ll be arriving in little over a month on June 11th after an 18 day cruise from Honolulu, Oahu to Sydney, Australia requires a pre-arranged visa before entering. If we arrived at our ship without processing the visas the cruise line wouldn’t allow us to board. 

The wind and waves were substantial on Monday which has since settled down. 

In reality, a more stringent process may be wise for most countries to follow for obvious reasons I won’t get into here. Here’s a quote from Tom:

“When we applied for our driver’s license in Nevada before we left the US, they asked me to take off my glasses when they took the photo.  I said that I needed to wear my glasses to drive. They said it’s not for that reason. This is a facial recognition photo. Why isn’t this technology used for passports?”

Good point! Why isn’t it?

Last night, we visited CIBT at this link. In less than 10 minutes, with our passports and a credit card on hand, I completed the online documents separately for each of us and our individual visas for Australia were processed, completed and confirmed at a cost of US $45 each.

This view at the Kauai Path is similar to the views we had from the two houses we rented on the Big Island in December.

(By the way, once we arrive in Australia, we’ll be entering all dollar amounts posted here in both USD and AUD (Australian dollars) as we ‘ve done in all other countries which use a alternate form of currency).

The visa process will be slightly more complicated for some of our upcoming stays including both Fiji and Bali.  We’ll report back the processes for those. 

The vast expanse of the ocean never disappoints.

Our Australian visas were issued last night for which we won’t need a piece of paper. It’s recorded electronically in the Australian immigration department’s system and will appear when we check in at immigration at Sydney.  The visas are good for one year until June 10, 2016. 

With our visa on file in Australia we’re allowed 90 day visits only and in one year we’d have to file again which may be more complicated the second go-around. Before we book more time in Australia, we’ll figure it out. At this time, we are only booked for 89 days in Australia (leaving one extra day for cancelled flights, etc.). 

Alternate view of the above fisherman.

We decided that we’ll investigate other options in Australia once we are there and get a feel for the “lay of the land.” Prices on vacation homes are as much as 100% higher than other countries in which we’ve lived, making it difficult to rent vacation homes to fit within our budget. 

We still have the over two month gap to fill beginning next June and have yet to decide where we’d prefer to go. We shall see what we decide and of course, report it here promptly. We’re attempting to stay somewhere in the South Pacific, if possible.

At certain areas, the beaches are less pristine as is the case here in the southern end of the Kauai Path.

With the imminent visa task handled for the moment, we’re now beginning to tackle the other items on our lengthy “to-do” list, found here.

We’re down to 17 days until departing Kauai to fly to Honolulu for one night. On the 18th day, we’ll board the ship. We’re excited, to say the least. We haven’t been on a cruise since this past September. Hopefully, we’ll have good weather as we travel so far across the ocean. If not, as always, we’ll just hang on!

Happy Hump Day!

                                              Photo from one year ago today, May 6, 2014:

Strawberries were small in Marrakech as shown here. They don’t do GMOs (or pesticides). As a result, the berries are small and unevenly shaped. When buying giant, uniform strawberries or other fruit, its easy to assume that nature alone doesn’t make them that huge, uniform and sweet. Remember the strawberries we ate as kids? They were tart and small. For more photos from that day’s post, please click here.

Exciting new location!…An exquisite private villa, exclusively for our pleasure!…Welcome to Post #700!..

This is a view of the pool and the sea at the exquisite private home, we’ll be renting in 2016.

It’s hard for us to believe that today’s post is #700.  In some ways, it seems as if this should be #7000. We’ve experienced so much since our first post on March 14, 2012.  Click here to read, post #1 which is one of our favorites.

In the early days, we posted a few photos when we’d yet to own a good camera or know how to take a post-worthy photo. As time marched on after we left Minnesota on October 31, 2012, and later left the US on January 3, 2013, gradually we came to realize that photos were a vital part of this form of communication.

View of the house from the water.

It took a while for us to finally post each day and to include at least a few photos in each post. Now, we never miss a day or a day with photos unless it’s a travel day without Internet access, a rarity in this world.

The infinity pool.  Note the cabanas at the far side of the pool.  Perfect for after-sun relaxing.

Speaking of photos, today we’re excited to share the photos of our latest booking which may prove to be the last booking for a while when we’re set for the upcoming almost two years. 

Facing the house from the lawn. We’re unable to see the pool in this photo due to its infinity edge.

We’re going to Bali! We’ve rented a four-bedroom, four and a half bath villa, obviously more room than we’ll need but, without a doubt, we’ll treasure every moment while we’re there.

The only people I’ve ever known who have gone to Bali are ambitious newlyweds, young people with the patience and stamina for the long trip from the US, the costly airfare averaging at US $2000 per person, EU $1465.31, taking from 27 to 42 hours with two to four layovers, plus the cost of a hotel, meals, tips, rental car, and incidentals. 

There are multiple areas for lounging by the pool.

However, we’ll already be in Perth, Australia at the end of our cruise on April 28, 2016, and the round trip cost for us will be US $463 per person at three hours and 40 minutes, non-stop. How could we not go to Bali? When will it ever be this easily accessible?

The challenge was in finding an affordable place to live. In addition, we had to face the reality of getting a visa for Bali which is tricky. At most, we can get 60 days at immigration at the airport. However, if we hire a visa agent in advance, we may be able to get a retiree’s visa for a longer period. It’s too soon to apply for that now so we’ll wait until we’re closer to the time of our visit. 

Each day, we’ll have to decide where we’d like to lounge with many options by the pool.

Bali is an island in Indonesia with strict immigration laws. There’s no way we’d be interested in flying to Jakarta to extend our visas. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia is overcrowded with some of the worst traffic in the world.  No thanks.

The dining table set for eight with beautiful dinnerware.

Unsure about being able to extend our visas at this point, we booked the Bali house shown here today for 59 days. If we’d known that we could have stayed longer, we’d have booked it for many more nights. 

The main floor lounge, one of two living rooms in the villa.

The glorious property, owned by a lovely couple who don’t permanently live in Bali, was one of those that kept me awake at night anxious to hear back if our rental terms were acceptable. When the owner didn’t receive my message accepting the terms, we thought all was lost when we didn’t hear back with a request for a deposit through PayPal. 

The main floor living room.

(Here’s the link to the Bali house listing from which we “borrowed” today’s photos).

One of three master bedrooms, all with king-sized beds, en suite bathrooms, and air conditioning.

Almost a day passed with no word. In my persistence, I wrote back again to later discover she never received the message. We were experiencing Internet issues as Portugal’s part in the World Cup was in full bloom with locals most likely online more frequently.

Bedroom two with another king bed.

Finally, we settled on mutually satisfactory terms. We were giddy. Once again, we’ll have a full household staff as we did in Morocco. However, we’ll be able to cook our own meals with the staff helping with all of the chopping and dicing if we so choose. Tom won’t have to do the dishes!

Bedroom three with another king bed. How will we decide which one we’ll choose? Here again, I’ll have a separate bedroom for showering and dressing so I don’t awaken Tom on the rare occasion he sleeps in.

However, in Bali with the pool and ocean at our door, we won’t feel trapped inside as we did in Morocco, unable to leave the riad unless we were ready to tackle the crowds in the souks. This will be very different. Walks on the beach, dining poolside, or at a cozy beachside bistro, shopping in quaint farmer’s markets will be the order of the day.  We couldn’t be more thrilled.

Bedroom four with twin beds.

No, we’re certainly not young newlyweds reveling in an exquisite South Pacific experience. But, us old-timers, may just settle back and pretend for a while that we are, from April 28, 2016, to June 26, 2016, in Bali, Indonesia.

                                             Photo from one year ago today, July 10, 2013:

Whether it’s mountains, hills, lakes, or sea, we love to have a great view from the veranda of our vacation homes, as was the case in Boveglio, Italy one year ago today. For details for that date, please click here.

A road trip today with photos….

Us on the beach at the Lost Reef Resort where we stopped for lunch today.

Our delightful new friends and neighbors, also from Minnesota, invited us to join them to travel by car to Big Creek for all four of us to renew our visas, as opposed to riding on the Hokey Pokey boat and taking four cab rides.

Our Minnesota friends and Belize neighbors, Nancy and Roger.

Still recovering from our recent fall on the collapsing steps, it made more sense to ride in Nancy and Roger’s SUV than to bounce around on the 20 minutes boat ride each way. We jumped at the chance. 

The pool by the sea at the Lost Reef Resort.

Besides, we so enjoy their company, we knew the process of going to the Immigration Department (a two hour round trip drive) would once again be a delightful experience. It was.

This is our final visa for Belize: Once we disembarked the Celebrity Equinox on January 29, 2013, another only a few short weeks ago and the third and final today. Visas in Belize are extended for 30 days only. Based on our upcoming departure on April 9, 2013, there was no way to avoid a third visa. No exceptions are made at immigration.

Great photo of this darling couple, Nancy and Roger, who own the villa next door to us.

Leaving at 10:00 am this morning, we arrived in Big Creek at 11:00 am, behind a good sized line of others seeking to renew their visas as well. The tiny office only holds five tourists at a time, leaving us to wait outside in the 90 degree humidity. With little breeze, we anxiously squeezed into the tiny air conditioned space when our turn came up.

The immigration officer asked, “Why are you here so early when your visas are good until March 20th?” I giggled to myself. 

Guests relaxing at the Lost Reef Resort

Tom explained the time frames we are in Belize and she nodded in understanding, extending each of our visas inside our passports to April 12, 2013, when we’ll be long gone.

I couldn’t help but add, “Old people are always early,” in an effort to get a chuckle out of the overly serious immigration officer dressed in a military-type uniform. A wide grin spread over her face.  It worked.

Back in the SUV, Roger suggested lunch to which the three of us enthusiastically agreed that is on the way back to Placencia in the little town of Riverdale.  Owned by American friends, the Lost Reef Resort is a quaint, picturesque resort with an ambiance of relaxation away from the rest of the world.

 The restaurant at the Lost Reef Resort.

Often when dining out with my restricted diet, I tend to read and reread the menu looking for acceptable options.  No problem at the Lost Reef Resort. Their amiable chef was eager to please preparing a hearty grilled chicken salad with a wide array of fresh crisp vegetables. 

Nancy and Roger had what they described as delectable chicken wings and onion rings while Tom dined on a robust burger and fries (he “cheats” when we eat out).  Heir food was fresh, the service impeccable and the atmosphere charming. 

Lisa and her husband have owned a charming resort for seven years.

Lisa stopped by to visit our table, her warm demeanor, making us feel as if she’d known us forever. Seven years ago, she and her husband purchased the resort. He continues to work in the US splitting his time between the states and Belize, while Lisa stays behind running the resort. 

After lunch, we meandered out to the resort’s beach, only steps from the restaurant.

It’s not surprising that we’ve met several ex-pats that have found their way to Belize to begin anew in this land of white sand beaches, balmy ocean breezes, unique architecture, and friendly people. 

Unfortunately, for some ex-pats who buy or start a business in resort communities throughout the world, find themselves working harder and longer than they ever worked in their home country. The appearing idyllic life of “getting away from it all” is not always as easy a life as it may seem.  For others, it proves to be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

This adorable little guy stayed put allowing us to take this fine photo.

For us, we’ll stay on the move, making new friends, experiencing new cultures, and reveling in the gifts Mother Nature has bestowed on us all to savor each and every day.

More visas needed???…Check, check and recheck!…

Our cruise company sent us this email message a few weeks ago:

“Dear Mrs. Lyman,

Thank you again for booking with Vacations To Go!

I wanted to send a quick email to remind you that one or more of the ports of
call, you will be visiting, will require a Visa.

If you are a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident or a Canadian citizen
residing in Canada and have not contacted CIBT, to verify your visa
requirements for this sailing, please contact them as soon as possible.

All other, non-US or Canadian citizens must verify proof of citizenship, and
visa requirements with the embassy, consulate or immigration office of the
countries in their cruise itinerary.

Vacations To Go has partnered with CIBT, one of the nation’s largest passport
and visa services companies in the country, to assist U.S. citizens, permanent
residents and Canadian citizens in obtaining any required visas or a passport.
Visas may be purchased within six months of the start of the vacation but,
please be aware that for some countries it may take up to 30 days to secure a
visa.

If you are a US citizen or permanent resident and need to obtain a visa,
click here.

If you are a US citizen and need to obtain a passport, click here.

If you are a Canadian Citizen residing in Canada and need to obtain a visa,
click here.

For visa or passport questions, call CIBT customer service at 1-877-841-8602.
Be sure to identify yourself as a Vacations To Go customer and reference
account 45585. CIBT is available from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST, Monday
through Friday.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Sincerely,

Joaquin Contreras
Travel Counselor
Vacations To Go
jcontreras@vacationstogo.com

We have total faith in our cruise counselor, Joaquin, and his company Vacations to Go for providing us with the most updated important information, superb customer service, and the best possible pricing.  I imagine, that the above letter is a standard letter sent to upcoming cruise passengers via the cruise lines on their behalf resulting in the “travel agents” presenting the information to their clients. 

Upon reading this letter, we followed the links to CIBT, a highly reputable visa and passport company per online reviews, the Better Business Bureau reports, and recommendations by VTG. 

Previously, we had used  VisaHQ, a company located on Embassy Row in Washington, DC in order to obtain our second passports (to find detailed information about the necessity of having a second US passport, please type “second passports” in the search box on our home page to go directly to our posts regarding the necessity of a second passport.)

With these links and information on hand, we proceeded to go to CIBT to set up an online account.  When asked, “what country will you be visiting?” I was stymied.  With four countries requiring a visa in our upcoming cruises through June 2013, my hope and expectation would be that we could apply for all four at once. 

Those countries requiring visas include Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. The other dozen or more countries in our upcoming eight cruises in 2013 (two more scheduled so far for 2014) do not require a visa for stays under 30 days. 

The dilemma we faced after receiving this letter:
1.  To apply for a visa, one must send their passport to the processing company along with a stack of ancillary documents, based on each country’s particular requirements.
2.  To avoid paying extra processing fees, as much as $150 per visa, one may apply early to ensure the documents are received in time for the cruises and…to get one’s passport back with the documents. When we ordered our second passports they were sent to us by registered mail to our mailing service in Nevada which we picked up when we went to Las Vegas for Christmas.
3.  Thus, without having established an address here in Belize and the potential for slow transit from the US to Central America, it’s likely should we try to apply now for June, there’s a high risk of not receiving our passports and visas in time before we depart on April 9th.

After Tom and I discussed this at length, after confirming that we did in fact need visas for these four countries we’ll visit on our cruises from May to June, we came up with this plan:
1.  Complete all the paperwork while here using our portable printer and scanner.
2.  Begin the process of applying online while here, leaving out the mailing of our passports until we get to Miami on April 13th when our ship, the Carnival Liberty, docks at the Port of Miami for approximately 10 hours.  
3.  Grab a cab, heading directly to a UPS store near the pier, mail our documents registered mail to CIBT, pick up our forwarded awaiting mail and packages we’d pre-arranged to arrive on April 13th, mail our excess luggage to my sister in Los Angeles, get back on the ship and continue on to the next cruise.
4.  In the packet to CIBT, we’ll have requested the visa and 2nd passports to be sent to our hotel in Barcelona Spain, where we’ll stay one night, May 5th, boarding our 15-night cruise in the morning through the Suez Canal to see the Great Pyramids, Giza, Cairo, The Sphinx, and more (will post details later), where three of the four visas are required. 

Whew! This is cutting it very close…one night in Barcelona with documents being delivered in a very narrow window. Of course, the hotel would gladly hold the package for us for a few days.  But what if it didn’t arrive, or was lost? 

Suddenly, we both felt a twinge of stress.  Our only piece of mind would be to have them sent from the US to Barcelona, the quickest, most expensive way.  We were willing to bear this expense. And yet, there still was no guarantee.

Our goal thus far has been to keep stress at a minimum, avoiding that angst-ridden feeling one takes on in bed in the middle of the night, interrupting sleep, a familiar feeling from our “old lives”, a feeling that seems unavoidable in the hustle and bustle of daily life.  

Lounging on the veranda yesterday, creating a definitive plan we both could live with, a thought occurred to us simultaneously; let’s call CIBT explaining our dilemma and see what suggestions they may offer. 

Since we no longer have a cell phone plan, using Skype and SIM cards as needed, we knew we could call their toll-free number using Skype, incurring no cost at all.  We discovered much to our delight, that we can call any business in the US without incurring any costs, as long as they have a toll free number.  They answer on their regular phone systems while we call on Skype for free.  Nice.  Thanks, SKYPE!  

Dialing their toll-free number, we were connected to a representative within 30 seconds. The call was clear with a bit of an echo.  Explaining our dilemma to the representative, she asked us to kindly wait and she’d be right back.  Watching the clock on Skype, she returned in less than a minute asking us the names of the cruise lines for these two upcoming cruises.  We responded that the May 6th cruise was with Royal Caribbean and the second was with Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Again, we were on hold for a short time. She returned to the phone with glee in her voice, “I have good news for you!” We held our breath. “You will not need pre-arranged visas on either of your cruises. You’ll receive them on board your ship at the time you disembark to go on your excursions.  Both of these cruise lines have an arrangement with these countries to provide visas at their ports of call.”

We squealed with delight.  Tom, or shall I say, “doubting Thomas” wanted more verification of this, worrywart that he is.  Immediately, we contacted Joaquin, our cruise guy by email.  An hour later, we received an email confirming that CIBT is correct, we don’t need to obtain visas in advance for the four countries, not always the case, but in these particular two situations, we could relax.

Had we not “called” receiving this valuable information, we would have followed the procedures online, paying the expenses of upwards of $600, while dealing with the stress of the timing.

Who knows how to travel the world for 5-10 years or more, managing all the details, documents, financial and medical concerns?  We don’t.  But we’re learning, day by day in bite-sized pieces with so much more ahead of us.  We’ll flounder, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll trust when we shouldn’t and wrongfully mistrust when we should.

Lesson learned.

Visa extension day…sheer wonder!

 
We rode on one of two identical boat across the lagoon to Mango Creek on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi.

Initially perceived as a necessary responsibility laden experience, getting one of our two required visa extensions proved to be a fun filled day.  Having decided many months ago that creating an adventure out of what may appear to be mundane would greatly improve the possibility of a positive outcome.  Indeed., that’s true!

The hut where we waited to board the Hokey Pokey boat.

Only two and a half months ago while living in Scottsdale Arizona, preparing for our upcoming travels, Tom had to have his final dreaded colonoscopy and endoscopy.

As it turned out we ended up having a wonderful time, meeting the gastroenterologist in his office for not only great news on Tom’s results but a bird’s eye view of his wide array of photos he’d taken while on safari in Africa.  While admiring the quality of his photos, a lively conversation ensued that we’ll both remember for a long time to come….an otherwise unpleasant experience resulting in a memorable day.


While driving through the channel to the lagoon, we saw several of these houses on stilts, a common style in Belize with potential hurricanes and high tides.

His work inspired us to learn to take good photos along the way, a gift to ourselves and others who share in our passion of the treasures Mother Nature has bestowed upon us all, not only in exotic locales but in our everyday lives.

Today, was a venture out into our new everyday life…taking care of business.
Little camera in hand, our cab driver Estevan appeared at our door, promptly at 9:30 as planned to drive us the five miles to Placencia Village to the dock on the lagoon to the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi.

Estevan, what a guy!  Concerned that we might not get a knowledgeable cab driver, he started making phone calls, first to his wife to get the phone number for a cabbie he knows. “Vic” who works the Mango Creek pier was more than willing to  take us on the 10 minutes drive to Big Creek where the Immigration Department is located. 

Minutes later, he was talking to Vic, not only negotiating an equitable fare for us in advance, a mere $10 (US) round trip, but also asking that Vic would wait for us while we were in the Immigration office obtaining our 30 day extensions.  Wow!  Need I say that we were appreciative and impressed? 

Dropping us off at the tiny waiting area for the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi, Estevan suggested we met up in front of the local grocery store, The Ming at 1:30 so we could shop and perhaps find more available items.  A perfect plan.


The dock in Mango Creek where Vic picked up the five of us for the drive to the Immigration Department in Big Creek,

With Estevan’s phone number neatly tucked into my shorts pocket, we bought two one way tickets  US $6 for the boat ride to Mango Creek.  Scheduled to depart at 10:00 am, we waited patiently sitting on the wood benches in the shaded hut while more passengers purchased tickets. 

It was hot and humid.  We’d frozen two water bottles for the journey, later grateful for having done so.  As required we had our passports, ID, money and potentially required documents that we listed in yesterday’s post directly from the Belize Immigration office.  Based on comments from both locals and travelers, the likelihood of being asked for additional documentation was low. 

In our usual “be prepared just in case” way, brought along everything they asked for in their forms.  It’d be a shame to go all that way and expense to be asked for a document we didn’t have in our possession.  (When in line at Immigration, we observed that some others also had the myriad documents on hand). 

No, we weren’t asked for the additional documents.  In a month, when we return for the second extension, we’ll bring along the same package we prepared for today, just in case that we’re the one out of a hundred that is asked, we’ll be prepared.

Seventeen passengers were seated in the small boat with us which zoomed across the water with ease with its huge newer looking outboard motor humming along.  With such a load, the boat was low in the water.  We weren’t concerned as we enjoyed the cool breeze thumping across the massive lagoon to Mango Creek.

Sitting next to us, both in the hut and on the boat, was a delightful couple , Margaret and Fred from Switzerland with smooth as silk accents, whose daughter and grandchild lived in Placencia, visiting them every year.  They were not only familiar with the country of Belize but were experienced world travelers who’d spent considerable time living in Africa.  

Claus, Margaret, Jess and Fred, our newly met Visa Day companions.

The conversation with Margaret and Fred was enhanced by the four of us meeting yet another passenger, Claus from Germany, who recently moved to Placencia with his wife and young child.  They all asked if they could ride in our prearranged cab, Vic’s large van, for the ensuing trip through Mango Creek and onward to Big Creek, the location of the Immigration Department.

Arriving at the dock in Mango Creek around 10:15 am, Vic was looking for us.  Estevan, thank you!!!  Quickly agreeing to take the five of us, we were on the road for the 10 minute drive to Big Creek.  The conversation among the five of us made the time fly by not only along the ride to and fro but the 25 minutes total it took for the five of us to get our passports stamped.

We made it back to the pier in Mango Creek at 11:05 and thank goodness, the return boat had yet to depart.  Waving goodbye to our newly found “friends”, Tom and I took off on foot from the pier to walk along the busy main road of the village to for a stop at a local vegetable stand, to a bank to exchange US $100  money to Belizian money (Belize $1.98 for US $1.00) to eventually end up at The Ming grocery to hook up with Estevan for the ride back to Laru Beya, our temporary home.

The stop at the vegetable stand was more fulfilling than I could imagine.  With no marked prices on any of the fresh organic produce we loaded up all we could carry and use over the next 9 days until Estevan returns to take us grocery shopping again.  Imagine, we purchased all of these items for a total of $12!  Fresh, organic, Roundup free, vegetables in the natural colors intended by nature, not chemically induced to be darker and brighter.

  • 2 pounds of carrots
  • 2 large heads of cabbage
  • 3 pounds of green beans
  • 3 large onions
  • 2 medium size eggplants
  • 2 pounds of pea pods
  • 1 large zucchini
Tom in the vegetable stand bagging up our produce.  We couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about our loot, all for only $12

Fresh produce!!  We couldn’t have been more thrilled.  As we’ve discovered, with only occasional carrots, cabbage, onions and peppers in most grocery stores, our selection has been limited.  Without wheels and the cost of a cab into Placencia at $20 plus tip, we’d decided it greatly added to our otherwise ample grocery store budget of $800 a month (dining out adds another $700 a month). 

Thus, we’ve limited ourselves to canned vegetables and homemade home chopped coleslaw which we now have made as a staple in our diet.  With lettuce at the vegetable stand, we looked at each other wondering if we wanted lettuce salad, shaking our heads “no”. We decided to stick with our standby coleslaw using our homemade dressing.  I make it early in the day, to ensure its ice cold by dinner.

In the future, we’ll go shopping in the village which has a much wider selection than the few stores we’ve frequented in the past.  On the return trip, Estevan offered to take us to the village going forward for $15 round trip enabling us to select from a wider range of foods. We purchased enough food today at a cost of $190 to get us through until a week from Wednesday when Estevan returns.  Of course, we gave him an ample tip, appreciative for all that he did for us.

Back in our villa, we put the food away, content with our purchases and locked up our documents in our built-in safe.  I began preparing dinner for tonight, a fresh batch of coleslaw, a giant bowl of chicken salad using the leftover chicken from last night along with big plate of buttery steamed green beans.

We’ll go back on the Hokey Pokey by March 20th to extend our visa for the remaining 20 days until we sail away on April 9th.  Now, for our much anticipated vegetable laden dinner, a sense of satisfaction for another great day and an evening with a full moon. 

Humm…maybe we’ll get a few good shots tonight! Check back tomorrow to see!

Visa day tomorrow…on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi…

Contact Mr. Burgies and Get your ticket at the Placencia Terminal is locate at the water Taxi Gas Station

                                                 Hokey Pokey Captain (we think).

While still in Minnesota, we researched the possibility of getting our visas for Belize based on our extended stay of two and a half months. 

As indicated in the post regarding disembarking in Belize City on January 29, 2013, the immigration officer that boarded our ship would only provide us with a 30 day visa, ending on February 28, 2013. 

In Belize, it’s only possible to get one 30 day extension per personal visit to an immigration office, resulting in the necessity of our going twice to immigration, once good until March 30th and another good until April 9th, the date we depart on our upcoming cruise out of Belize City. 

From what we’ve heard from expats, they will not make an exception for the extra 10 days and give us a visa from February 28th to April 9th.  We understand the necessity of such rules applying to everyone and surely, we have no right to an exception.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 am, our trusty cab driver, Estevan will arrive to take us the five mile drive to the village of Placencia to the pier to hop a ride at 10:00 am on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi to take us the relatively short distance across the lagoon from Placencia to Mango Creek/Independence, located on the mainland.  The cost per person is US $3 per person each way.

Once we arrive in Mango Creek, it will be necessary to take another taxi for a ride to the immigration office at an unknown address which apparently is too far to walk.  Both Tom and I looked online for an hour for an address finally giving up looking.  From comments we’ve read online, most taxi drivers know where it is. 

In order to be granted a visa extension, a number of documents must accompany our passports.  Here’s the list copied directly from their form:

The application form  MUST  be FULLY completed, signed and dated, then submitted with the  following:  1. Your passport
2. One recent passport ­sized photograph
3. Proof of Travel Arrangements:  Copies of Tickets or a Confirmed Travel Itinerary
4. Proof of Accommodation: Copies of Confirmed Hotel Reservations or Full contact details of family/friends in Belize
5. Proof of Financial Means: Copies of most recent bank statement or Letter from Financial Officer (for Business travel  only)
6. Purpose for Trip: Educational – Letter of Introduction from University or Educational Institution Business – Letter of Introduction from Company or Organisation and supporting documents Tourism – see number 3 above.
7. Payment of Fees: Single Entry $50 per person, per extension

Our equally trusty Planon PrintStik, printed all of the above and we’re ready to go.  Providing a bank statement is a bit unnerving but, if asked (and we may not be) we’ll be prepared.  It would be a shame to go through this process and not have the necessary documents in one’s possession.

We could have applied to the immigration department in the UK.  However, we are unable to send or receive mail here in Placencia in a timely fashion to ensure we’d get our passports back in time for departure.  We have two US passports but, feared it would be returned long after we’ve left.

Another option was to rent a car and drive the two hour winding Hummingbird Highway to get to Belmopan, the capital city and apply in person.  This surely would be a full day’s outing. 

We opted for the trip to Mango Creek/Independence, hoping we can get done in time to return to Placencia Village on the 12:00 PM Hokey Pokey.  This would give us time to have lunch in Placencia at one of the highly recommended diners, grocery shop in the larger grocery store, the fresh fish market and the vegetable stands, having Estevan pick us up when we’re done around 2:30.

This choice gives us an opportunity for a fun outing as opposed to a long drive up and back.  It all made more sense to us.  If the time at the immigration moves quickly, all could go as planned.  We shall see how it goes, reporting back here tomorrow with photos and a rundown of our day.

Have an enjoyable evening watching the Academy Awards!  Much to our delight (mine more than Tom’s) we’ll be able to watch it in HD on the flat screen TV in our little villa.  Oh, we’re getting spoiled.  Expectations will be reduced considerably after we leave this fabulous spot! 

Languishing in Paradise…Making a new to-do list…

There’s no free lunch.  No matter where we go, how untangled we strive to be, Life is filled with responsibility. 

Many years ago, my eldest son Richard and I discussed the merits of “living under a palm tree in a tropical climate, weaving baskets.”  At the time, it sounded like an uncomplicated analogy of how simple life could be if one so chose, escaping from the constraints of our everyday living.

Tom and I have had no delusions that traveling the world would be a far cry from escaping responsibility.  With banking, bills to pay, investments to oversee, health and personal property insurance, ongoing tax liabilities, and the time-consuming process of managing one’s household on the road, there was little opportunity to allow one mind’s freedom of letting it all go. 

On top of it all is the time-consuming process of continually planning the next step: airline reservations, hotel bookings, cruise bookings, finding health clubs, arranging transportation, locating Fed Ex offices, and on and on.

Beginning our travels on October 31, 2012, after 10 months of planning, we knew the flow of responsibility would follow us no matter how much we thought we’d prepared in advance. The 10 months were only the tip of the iceberg.

Today, comfortably ensconced at our new location at Laru Beya Resort for the next two-plus months anticipating the move on Sunday into our own condo/villa, reality slaps us in the face that our days of bemoaning our waterless situation are behind us and, it’s time to get back to that which we want and must do.

Here’s what’s on the agenda for the remainder of the month:
1.  Complete our excel spreadsheet with deductions and tax information for our accountant.  We’re almost done when yesterday our tax documents finally arrived via our mail service in Nevada, MailLinkPlus who will snail mail the actual documents to him.

2.  Complete the review and application for my new health insurance policy and both of our Emergency Evacuation policies.  Pay the annual premiums for all of the policies. (Tom still has insurance until age 65).

3.  Apply for visa extension for Belize. We have to take a boat to get to the immigration office on the mainland after finding our way to the boat launch area in Placencia Village.  (I mistakenly thought it was on an island as mentioned in a prior post. Excuse my error).

4.  Arrange for storage of our excess luggage in Miami for one year, while we’re in Europe and Africa.  On April 9th we’ll embark on a cruise from Belize City (midway through the cruise) sailing to Miami, arriving on April 13th at 8:00 am.

We’ll be staying on the same ship, the Carnival Liberty, in order to embark on yet another cruise later in the day.  We’ll disembark the ship in the morning with only our passports and our excess luggage grabbing a cab to go to a Self Storage 3.5 miles from the pier. They will store our bags for $15 a month plus a one time $22 service fee, in a climate-controlled space.

Once we drop off the excess luggage, we’ll have the cab driver take us to a Fed Ex office .6 miles from the storage facility to pick up our XCom Global device. While on this cab ride, we’ll stop at a drugstore to restock a few toiletries and a grocery store to restock our favorite Crystal Lite Iced Tea and our favorite sugar-free chocolate (unheard of here in Belize).

Normally, in the US a six package container of Crystal Lite iced Tea sells for around $3.49. Yesterday, we purchased nine containers priced at $7.75 US each. The owner gave us a discount of 3% for wiping out her entire inventory. Our final cost in Belize was $67.66 US as opposed to $31.41 in the US. 

5.  Order XCom Global MiFi device to take with us over the number of upcoming cruises, having them ship it to the Fed Ex Office near the pier in Miami so we can pick it up the same day we drop off the excess luggage at storage on April 13th, as indicated above.

6.  Apply for visas for Turkey, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan from a different online company from the company we had previously used for our second passports (they don’t do visas for the Middle East), using the services of a company suggested by our cruise agent.  Yet to research.

7. Search for cruises to get us from South Africa back to Europe in March 2014, from Europe to Hawaii to meet up with our kids and grandkids in December 2014. The best route we’ve found thus far is from Barcelona to Miami when we’ll pick up our excess bags from storage and then possibly head out on another cruise from Miami to Los Angeles.  

Here’s the deal on the cruise from Barcelona to Miami.  What a great price!  We’ll book this cruise within 24 hours in order to receive the $100 onboard credit offered below.


FastDeal
25626
14 nights departing October 26, 2014 on
Norwegian’s Norwegian Epic
Brochure Inside $899
Our Inside $599
You Save 33%
Brochure Oceanview $1,299
Our Oceanview $829
You Save 36%
Brochure Balcony $1,299
Our Balcony $829
You Save 36%
Brochure Suite $1,699
Our Suite $1,099
You Save 35%
$$$ Two-Day Sale! Book by February 8, 2013 and receive a FREE US$100 per cabin onboard credit on select categories.
Promotions may not be combinable with all fares.
The prices shown are US dollars per person, based on double occupancy, and subject to availability. They include port charges but do not include airfare or (where applicable) airport or government taxes or fees.
ITINERARY
DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE  DEPART
Sun Oct 26 Barcelona, Spain 5:00pm
Mon Oct 27 At Sea
Tue Oct 28 At Sea
Wed Oct 29 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 9:00am 6:00pm
Thu Oct 30 At Sea
Fri Oct 31 At Sea
Sat Nov 1 At Sea
Sun Nov 2 At Sea
Mon Nov 3 At Sea
Tue Nov 4 At Sea
Wed Nov 5 St. Maarten 8:00am 6:00pm
Thu Nov 6 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00am 4:00pm
Fri Nov 7 At Sea
Sat Nov 8 At Sea
Sun Nov 9 Miami, FL 8:00am

Once we arrive in Miami, we’ll stay on the Norwegian Epic as it commences another cruise on November 9th, in order to “kill” another week.  Invariably, cruising with the meals included is a lower cost than staying in a hotel and dining out every night plus, its our means of transportation ultimately getting us to the next destination, enjoying each day in the process.

On November 17, 2014, upon completion of the second round on the Epic, we’ll find our way from Miami to Hawaii either by another cruise or by air.  It’s a toss-up:  airfare and where to stay for an extra month in Hawaii which is pricey or cruise and pay more overall saving on the daily rate.  Time will tell.

We’ll post the 2nd cruise which we’re working on right now with our cruise guy, Joaquin at Vacations to Go, embarking on November 9, 2014, once we book it in the next 24 hours. 

Today, we’ll drive the golf cart to Placencia Village to return it, taking a cab back. The cost of the cab is estimated at $10 US.  With no wheels for the next two months, we’re considering what would be the most cost-effective options. We’ll keep you informed.

Also, we found some local adventures we’ll partake in once we get situated in our new home, the LaruBeya villa, and complete some of the above tasks on our new to-do list.  There’s definitely no “free lunch.”

Disembarking the ship before the end of the cruise…

Remember our motto, “Wafting Through Our World Wide Journey with Joy, Simplicity and
Ease”?


We strive to keep this in mind.In order to accomplish doing so, we must be proactive.On occasion, proactive behavior requires assertiveness that may, on occasion, be off-putting to those with whom we are dealing. As we plan to disembark from the Celebrity Equinox tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29th we are faced with a few potential obstacles:

1.  How will our luggage be handled on the smaller “tender” boat taking us the 20
minute ride to the pier in Belize?  Will
we need new luggage tags as when we disembarked the Celebrity Century?
2.  What time shall we schedule the hired driver to appear at the pier, holding up the sign
with our name based on a projected time the ship will be cleared for
dismemberment?
3.  What is the procedure for acquiring a visa, which based on our research is provided at the
time of entering the country of Belize, not online at an earlier date? Will they in fact grant us a visa for 2 1/2 months?
4.  What is the process with the Belize Immigration Department? Will they go through our
bags?  (We didn’t purchase anything aboard the ship).
5.  Will our scheduled driver have a large enough and reliable van (as promised when we
booked) for the four hour drive to Placencia? Will we arrive at the dock at 12:30 as scheduled?
In an effort to be proactive on Sunday morning I visited the customer service desk to review the process of getting the above four items
addressed.

The staff person tried to dismiss my concerns saying all would be fine. Ha! This is not the answer I was seeking!  (Tom and I agreed to let me handle these kinds of potentially testy situations. I tend to stay calm and pushy at the same time).

After the staff person attended to the answer to

Question #1, I was able to secure two PRIORITY TENDER TICKETS, enabling us to choose a time to get onto the tender with support staff.  This helps.

Unfortunately, when I pressed for the remaining answers, the staff person was unable to answer, preferring to say again, “everything will be fine. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yes,” I said, “there is something to be worried about.” She straightened the lapel on her navy blue blazer, wincing at my comment.
“Let’s say we get into Belize with immigration and 2 1/2 months later, we’re stuck in immigration for 24 hours or more trying to “get out of Belize” if we didn’t have a proper long term visa. (A
visa for Belize is not required for under 30 day visits).
“We need immigration to meet us at the pier,” I insisted, “to provide us with a visa good through April 9, 2013, when we depart.” (We had tried to get this ahead of time but was told by Belize Immigration to get a visa when we arrive).
“Whatever you need to do to arrange this is imperative.”  I continued. “If you don’t know the answer, please direct me to the staff member who does handle these types of concerns.  Is there such a person on board?”
“Yes,” she said meekly, “I’ll call her and she’ll contact you.” 
“OK,” I said, feeling frustrated, “We’ll watch for a message from her by the end of the day today.  We spend little time by the phone in our cabin.”

By the time I walked over to Tom who was sitting in a lounge area waiting for me, I had cooled off enough to tell him what transpired, reassuring him that all will be taken care of and not to worry. 

When passengers get off of a cruise ship, returning after a day of spending money in their city, there is little, if any hoopla.  Getting off the ship and staying for an extended period is an entirely other matter.

Once we hear back from the on board immigration handler, we will report the results.  Hopefully,
all will go smoothly. 

Persistence prevails.
__________________________________________
A few hours after writing the above, we returned to our cabin with a phone message from Jennie, the on board Celebrity immigration officer. Immediately returning her call, she suggested I bring our passports and our itinerary to the customer service desk and she’d meet with me.
I couldn’t get down there quickly enough, leaving Tom behind in the cabin. As I dashed to the
elevator, it dawned on me that this was the first time since January 3rd when we boarded the Celebrity Century, that I was out of Tom’s sight.  I chuckled to myself.  Imagine. We aren’t sick of each other yet!

Meeting Officer Jennie put my mind at ease.  Her crisp white and black uniform with
epaulets, the official name tag as “Chief Officer of Immigration coupled with her professional demeanor immediately reassured me that we were now in the proper hands.

Showing her our lengthy itinerary set the pace for a lively conversation with her enthusiasm to ensure that everything goes smoothly in our early departure from the cruise. She handed me immigration forms to complete, made a copy of our itinerary and immediately addressed all of our
concerns.

She suggested that she’d hold onto our passports until Tuesday when the Belizean Immigration Officer will board the ship (also via tender). She’ll handle everything for us including arranging for our 2 1/2 month visa. Should there be an entry fee, she will let us know and charge it to our
cabin.

She answered all of our questions including the seamless handling of our bags via porter to our cabin, taking our bags to be handled by the tender staff who again will assist at the pier.  She said there is no need for us to so much as touch our bags. No luggage tags are needed since we’ll be the only passengers staying in Belize.
In addition, she explained that our having PRIORITY TENDER TICKETS, we can board the tender at any time we’d prefer. Contacting our private van company in Belize by email today, they reassured me on the vehicle’s good condition, the size of the van and that the driver would meet us to be at the pier at 12:30 pm holding a sign with our name. According to Officer Jennie we’d have no trouble being there on time for the driver.

On Tuesday morning when the ship anchors in the harbor of the port of Belize at 10:30 am, requiring one hour to be cleared, we’ll have our bags down by the gangplank ready for us to get on the tender. Jennie will call our cabin instructing us when to come down to the desk to retrieve our passports and our new visas and head to the tender, knowing that our driver is scheduled for 12:30 pm. 

Anything could go wrong and throw this plan into total chaos. There is absolutely nothing WE will do to throw it off.  However, we’re subject to the responsibility and timing of others. As we all so well know, we can’t always count on the diligence of others, only on that of ourselves.

Then, of course, is the four hour drive to Placencia, only after the driver takes us to the FEDEX office in Belize City to return the XCOM Global MiFi device which won’t work in Belize. They are aware of the slow return mail and aren’t charging us for the time it takes for the package to get back to San Diego, California. 

We’ll need the device again by April 9th. We’ll have to pay the international shipping charge back to Belize so we can collect it at the same FEDEX office in Belize City before we depart on cruise #3 back to Miami for a same day departure of cruise #4.  At the cost of $395 a month for the device, it made no sense to hang onto it for this extended period. Postage both ways will be about $140.

Details, details, details!  The perception that this adventure of ours is comparable to a long vacation is delusional. This is work, lots of work and endless planning.  Fortunately, I find the process is pleasurable and much to my surprise, Tom does as well. 

We are both reminded, each and every day, to enjoy the living in the moment, even when it entails a phenomenal number of specific events falling into place. 

We’ll see how we feel about this premise when its 7:00 pm Tuesday night, arriving in Placencia in the dark, tired, hungry, opening one particular suitcase that has no clothing inside, taking out the multiple allergy and bedbug protecting mattress covers, putting them on the mattress, box springs and pillows all before we open our other bags.

We shall see and of course…report how it all goes.

Why 2nd passports?…Visit to Nevada…

Over the past many months of writing this blog, I have mentioned the need for 2nd passports.  One may ask, “Why isn’t one passport sufficient?”

Usually, one passport is sufficient for most travelers.  If visas are needed for travel, one must send in their passport to the appropriate embassy along with other pertinent documents as required by the country into which one is seeking access.  Doing so, would leave us in a foreign country without a passport in our possession for a week, a dangerous situation.

Visas are not required by all countries, many are only required for stays of 30 days or more, many for as much as 90 days. It is imperative that we check the requirements at the embassy of the countries we’ll be visiting, found easily online at a number of sites.

Rather than take the time and effort to apply for all the visas we will need as we need them and, based on our long stays in many countries, we have decided to use the services of VisaHQ, a company located on Embassy Row in Washington, DC.  They have the ability to quickly and easily process the paperwork, not only for our 2nd passports but also for our many upcoming visas.

Unfortunately, it is necessary to wait about 30 days before traveling to a specific country, since they usually are only good for a specific period.

Of course, there are additional fees for processing each visa, usually under $79 each.  Early on in our budgeting discussions we decided to include this expenses rather than taking the time and the effort at each of our locations to do the paperwork ourselves. Doing so would create stress, distracting us from the enjoyment of the experience at the time.

VisaHQ, along with other such websites, has the traveler complete a master form kept secure on their site.  When a visa is needed a single page is all that is required to complete online along with sending in the 2nd passport and any necessary documents which are quickly returned. 

Second passports are only good for two years.  We’ll note the renewal date on our calendar upon receipt.  For this reason, we are waiting until we are down to the wire to ensure we have full use of the two years.

Once we apply and have experienced the process of our first application online with VisaHQ we will report back here with the details.  Of course, we already have our “first” passports, good for another nine years in our case. (US passports are valid for a of a total of 10 years).

This past Friday while here in Nevada, we had additional passport photos taken at a Walgreens pharmacy, who along with CVS are certified to take passport photos, making this process easier than in years past.  The cost for each pair of photos is $10.99. 

We each ordered two sets leaving us with a total of four passport photos plus a fifth we already had of an older photo. Generally, passport photos are valid for six months. (Yes, us old timers do change in appearance in six months, I suppose). 

The time here in Henderson, Nevada has been low key as we continue to prepare to leave the US, visiting family, playing with family kids and dogs, Monty and Owen. 

We dined in the past two nights.  On Saturday while at Whole Foods we purchased a huge chunk of bison sirloin steak, gluten free of course, that I cut into two nice sized pieces to marinate.  After all, we are trying “new things.”

Nah, Tom took one bite and gagged.  It didn’t help that we were watching a show on TV, Extreme Cheapskates, whereby the “star” of the episodes would go “dumpster diving” at restaurant dumpsters for dinner. 

That didn’t bother me!  I busily chomped away on my big steak, noticing a “gamey” flavor but hungry enough to eat the entire thing.  I eyeballed Tom’s plate considering attacking his steak also deciding not to “pig out.”  Bison in the future?  Not so much.

Undoubtedly, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to try new foods along the way as we travel the world.  Later.